U.S. and Canadian energy firms have been making a slew of natural gas-related acquisition in the past year or two, and in his latest piece for Canada’s Globe and Mail Validea CEO John Reese takes a look at some of his favorite stocks in the potential-packed natural gas arena.

“It’s a trend that is only likely to get more pronounced as time goes by,” Reese writes of the natural gas push. “Technological enhancements have made gas much easier — and cheaper — to produce, and the tragedy in Japan and continued upheaval in oil-producing Middle East nations should make natural gas an attractive alternative to oil and nuclear power.”

Reese looks at two natural gas-related picks that are located in North America, and one Chinese firm that has been active in natural gas-related deals in the U.S. Among the stocks: Canada’s Encana Corp., which recently agreed to a quarter-billion-dollar joint venture with U.S. firm Northwest Natural Gas Co. To read the full article, click here.